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Writer's pictureEmmy Rubin

The Bronfman Blockade - A Chronicle

By Emmy Rubin

Editor-in-Chief


Via Chabad Concordia


On Thursday, February 22nd, students around campus were simultaneously receiving and opening the same email with the innocuous subject line, “Desautels demonstration / Manifestation à la Faculté de gestion Desautels.” Somewhat less innocuous was the italicized header of the email stating that the message was sent on behalf of Denis Mondou, Director of the Emergency Operations Centre. 


The ‘demonstration’ that was occurring was a group of pro-Palestinian protestors blocking off all entrances and exits to the Bronfman building which houses the Desautels school of Management. The blockage impeded students from attending their classes in person, forcing the courses to be held on zoom. Police were called in shortly after the protest began, heightening the frenzy of the pro-Palestinian mob, resulting in Instagram stories demanding “Cops off our f— campus!” from accounts such as SPHR (formerly SPHR McGill). 


In the weeks preceding the protest, pro-Palestinian groups had become more and more agitated due to their discovery of Start Up Nation courses being taught in McGill’s Management school; courses that derive inspiration from the technological and business related innovations Israel has birthed over its history. 


Reaching out to the members of the student-led club Start Up Nation McGill with regards to the pro-Palestinians denouncement of the Start Up Nation, they explained that the goal of Start Up Nation is to introduce the world to Israeli and Jewish Innovations and start-ups to enrich people’s understanding of business and tech. When asked about SPHR’s vocal outrage towards the Start Up Nation, they stated they were merely using it “as a platform to go off on their propaganda about how Israel is terrible…Start Up Nation has nothing to do with the Palestinian conflict, and all [SPHR] want to do is remove anything that has to do with Israeli or Jewish innovations from the conversation.”



While many might assume that the Start Up Nation was the driving force behind the location and nature of the protest as many circulating images and videos from that day feature a prominent poster demanding ‘End McGill’s Start Up Nation!”, there was (if possible) an even more sinister motive.


Speaking to Jewish individuals present at the protest, it became known to this writer that the Bronfman building was being blockaded that day due to its namesake. Samuel Bronfman, a Canadian Businessman and Philanthropist who donated the edifice known as the Bronfman building to McGill University in 1971, was a well-known Jew and Zionist, presiding over the World Jewish as President for many years. Perhaps even more suspicious is the fact that the day of the protest, a Jewish speaker was supposed to attend one of the lectures but, due to the blockade, was unable to speak.


The most notable part of the protest, however, was the swell of Israeli and Jewish students gathering in solidarity just across the narrow street from where the Bronfman building sits. Students danced around and sang with Israeli flags blowing in the air, smiling and supporting each other as well as their country in the face of devastating hatred. This hatred stemmed not only from the blockade and the antagonizing posters, but from chants such as ‘settlers go home’ and ‘Intifada revolution’.


Intifada, as all Israelis and Jews are familiar with, is a term that describes acts of violence committed against Israeli citizens by Palestinian terrorists, suicide bombers, and murderers. The first and second Intifadas, from 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, respectively, were years in which Israelis lived in constant fear of everyday terror. 


In response to the chants of ‘Intifada’ and ‘Intifada revolution’, around 4 pm, Jewish students made a poster with an image of a bus blown up in Israel by a suicide bomber during the second Intifada with the words ‘This is Intifada’ written on the bottom. According to a Jewish individual present at the protest, “the idea behind this poster is that, since they were chanting intifada revolution, we were naive enough to think that a lot of people didn’t know what the intifada was and that maybe showcasing that the deadly first and second intifadas - we were talking about the second intifada in 2005 - would humanize the situation…but as we were holding up the ‘This is Intifada’ poster, [the protestors] continued to chant ‘Intifada revolution’ with no regards for intifadas violence against Israeli Jews. We were honestly shocked that they continued to chant ‘intifada revolution’ even after seeing the poster of the bus blowing up.”


Many, especially those on the pro-Palestinian side of the conflict fail to comprehend the fact that they are glorifying violence against Israelis and Jews and that this violence is happening to real people. The Jewish student continued by saying that, “Personally, [the Intifada] is why my parents left Israel, why I have a family member who wouldn’t take public transport for five years when they were in Israel during the Intifada – because they were scared of the bus blowing up from suicide bombers.”



Via Anonymous


As the chronicles of this protest start with an email, so must they end. On Monday, February 27th, Deep Saini, President and Vice Chancellor of McGill University sent out a message diplomatically condemning the pro-Palestinian blockage at Bronfman, to the Jewish students’ delight. However, one sentence stuck out for most Jewish students involved in the events at the Bronfman building: “Over the course of the day, a counter-protest began, escalating matters further.” 


According to members of Chabad McGill who were responsible for the strong surge of Jewish support that day, Saini is woefully wrong in labeling the Jewish unity as a ‘counter-protest’. A counter-protest implies that both groups present at Bronfman that day were equally ferocious in their expressions of speech and action when, according to one of the organizing Chabad members, “It was not aggressive: it was about community building for the Jewish community.”


Chabad McGill is probably most famous around campus for their Tefillin tables where they identify Jewish students passing by and ask them if they want to take part in the mitzvah of putting on Tefillin in an effort to create a safe and open community for Jews on campus. February 22nd was no different. Having already booked a table for Tefillin in the Y intersection, Chabad members heard the chaos emanating from the Bronfman building, instantly realizing that “students felt the most important place to have their voice heard was in front of Bronfman building.” Instantly, Chabad moved their table and their Tefillin over to Bronfman because that day, Chabad’s message was more than just Tefillin: “it was about building the Jewish community and making sure that Jewish students knew that their voices were heard.”


While it is so easy to stay where it’s safe and not engage with those that show such obvious hate for you, for Jewish students there is no choice but to face those who hate us. As one of the members of Chabad stated, “When they start yelling slogans like ‘intifada’ at us, we have no choice but to respond to something like that – we can’t just stand there.” Instead of throwing back hateful speech at the pro-Palestinians like the term ‘counter-protest’ suggests, the Jewish students merely sat together and sang. More frankly put by a Jewish student present that day, “we weren’t blocking anything, there wasn’t any blockage from our side. On the other side they were literally blocking the building… we were going to where the students were, where the action was…but it was about the Jewish community, not a counter-protest.”


The images from the Bronfman protest of February 22nd were striking in their depiction of one group of students separated from the other by a police-made gulf of empty street. When asked about the symbolism of this image, Jewish students present that day explained, “It’s symbolic of what the campus is experiencing right now. We’re in a polarized university right now and that’s just the way things are.”


Pro-Palestinian students become outraged at the sight of an Israeli flag on campus, as seen on February 22nd. On the other side of the spectrum, Jewish students feel fear, anger, and even hatred when they see someone sporting a Keffiyeh. However, it's intrinsic to keep in mind that while one item is a symbol of the only Jewish State on the planet that provides refuge to Jews facing endless persecution, the other is a garment that was popularized by a terrorist leader that was responsible for the death of Jews along with the creation of the Intifadas. While this campus polarization is real, it does not have equal stakes. One group tries to overcome the fear their identity affords them with community and hope – the other revels in making others afraid.


February 22nd was not a day of counter-protest. It was a day of asserting that Jews will not be made afraid.



Via Chabad Concordia

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